Pittsburgh is planning to add automated traffic light enforcement at several of the city’s most dangerous intersections in an effort to improve roadway safety. The initiative is aimed at cutting down on the number of crashes caused by motorists running red lights.
Councilor Erika Strassburger introduced a bill Tuesday that would enable the city to begin automating red light enforcement. At a press conference with city leaders, she said the added enforcement “is about saving lives.”
Traffic crashes are a leading cause of death in the City of Pittsburgh. While homicides in the city increased by 20% between 2018 and 2022, fatal crashes increased by 71% during the same period. Strassburger said traffic crashes at busy intersections is something that everyone has had some experience with.
“We all know the intersections near our homes where this happens on a regular basis,” she said. “Where we know we have to wait those extra five seconds before proceeding on a green light, because all the drivers are rushing to get through the red lights and trying to get where they're going.”
According to city data, between 2019 and 2023 there were nearly 760 traffic crashes that involved a motorist running through a red light. Seven people were killed in those incidents. The addition of automated red-light enforcement can reduce fatal red-light running crashes by 21%, according to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Automated enforcement is in place in 334 cities nationwide, but only four municipalities use automated enforcement in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Pittsburgh would be the fifth.
Once installed, cameras will record violations for the city’s police department to process. The bureau will validate the offense before mailing a ticket to the offender’s registered address. Offenders will then have 30 days to pay the fine or appeal.
The first automated intersections have not yet been chosen, and it’s unclear how many cameras will be installed. But locations will be selected based on traffic crash data and must be approved by PennDOT, according to Strassburger. The city must allow for a 60-day warning period upon the installation of the first automated red light and a 30-day warning period for each light after that. All lights with automated enforcement would be required to have signage alerting drivers.
Chris Sandvig, founder of transportation advocacy group Mobilify, praised the city’s move toward automated red light enforcement at Tuesday’s press conference. Sandvig said he was struck by a vehicle in April and suffered extensive injuries that left him immobile.
“This has become very personal to me,” Sandvig said. “I couldn't do anything for myself. I could not even go upstairs on my own, let alone brush my teeth or any of those other daily functions.”
Sandvig said as a pedestrian and a cyclist he’s had more near-misses than he can count.
“Is a 45-second savings worth killing someone?” he said. “I hope nobody thinks their life is worth 45 seconds of savings to get to where you think you're trying to get.”
Fine rates for violators have not yet been determined but officials said Tuesday that fines would not exceed $100.
Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt stressed that’s because automated enforcement is not about adding revenue from fines to the city’s coffers, but rather about helping police enforce traffic laws and reducing the rate of red light crashes.
Schmidt said his hope is that “this initiative, like in many other cities, causes a significant decrease in people going through red lights and causing accidents.” He noted that Pittsburgh has seen an uptick in aggressive driving and red light running over the last four years as well as an increase in fatal and severe crashes.
Automated red light enforcement is the first major initiative of the city’s “vision zero” plan that has brought traffic calming measures to several neighborhoods this year.
“The city's investment in traffic calming is greater this year in the budget than it has ever been before,” said Kim Lucas, director of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure. “We are spending more money on making our streets safer by installing speed humps, by improving traffic signals… [but] we can’t do it alone through engineering and through construction.”
Mayor Ed Gainey, whose budget address last year promised investment in traffic safety projects said automated red light enforcement is a “significant milestone” in his administration’s effort to improve street safety.
“Over the past year, my budget has doubled the funding allocation for traffic calming measures,” he said. “The benefits of these investments are already underway.”
The bill, introduced Tuesday, will allow the city to begin a formal search for a company to install automated cameras. With council’s recess set to begin later this week, it could be more than a month before the city moves the bill forward. Officials said they hoped to use that time to iron out details about where to install the first cameras.
